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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769787">Familiar Phantoms</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeyondStars/pseuds/BeyondStars'>BeyondStars</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Gore but not detailed so don't worry, Spoilers for chapter 100+</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 19:02:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,385</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23769787</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeyondStars/pseuds/BeyondStars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ghosts from Zeno's past find him in his dreams after an encounter with an almost-familiar face.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>81</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Familiar Phantoms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This fic is a request from Tumblr! (Thanks to Thais @itsclowreedsfault for being my beta!)</p><p>Prompt: Zeno is slightly more open with the group about his past and what he went through.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The marketplace the group had walked into was bustling with activity. Both sides of the wide street were lined with stalls containing everything from fresh fruit to glittering trinkets of multiple vibrant colours. Tempting as it all looked, they were only passing through. Pulling their hoods down further over their faces, they marched on through the crowd, weaving between groups of people stood talking and laughing together. Zeno and Kija were at the back of the line, laughing at an odd looking hat a man had been wearing as they walked past one of the stalls. Turning back towards Kija to make another remark regarding said hat, Zeno’s laugh died in this throat; several meters away from them at a stall on a corner stood a short young woman. She had cropped brown hair, and was wearing a maroon robe. Her laugh pierced his heart as it rang out across the street as she giggled loudly at something the vendor had said. Legs seemingly moving on their own, Zeno found himself drifting across to the stall where the girl stood until he was right beside her.</p><p>
  <em>… Kaya?</em>
</p><p>The girl started a little at the suddenness of his appearance, but she still smiled at him warmly.</p><p>
  <em>Oh… her smile is wrong. </em>
</p><p>“Um, hello, are you alright?” The girl asked, concern having now crept into her olive green eyes. <em>Wrong colour</em>. Before Zeno could answer a familiar voice called out to him.</p><p>“Zeno, there you are!” Kija strode up to Zeno and the girl, looking somewhat frazzled. Zeno could see the rest of the troupe huddled off to the side waiting for them. “Are you alright? One moment you were beside me and then you were gone!”</p><p>Zeno, a pro at lying through his teeth, swiftly plastered on a bright smile. “Yes, yes! Sorry, miss, Zeno thought you were someone else. Goodbye now!” After a quick bow and a wave from Zeno the two re-joined their companions and continued on through the market and out of the town.</p><p>“May I ask who she reminded you of, Zeno?” Kija asked as they walked, studying the shorter dragon’s face for any hints at how he was feeling. However, as usual, he was unreadable.</p><p>“Oh, no one, really. Just someone Zeno knew a long time ago.”</p><p> </p><p>**********</p><p> </p><p>Late in the night, the weather took a turn for the worse. The wind howled through the trees surrounding their campsite, smaller branches occasionally being carried off into the darkness. Rain came down in sheets and thudded heavily into the top and sides of the tents. The weather however was not the only turbulent happening taking place; inside the larger of the two tents, Zeno’s dreams had turned muddled and cruelly chaotic. At first he only saw the girl from the marketplace with her muddy green eyes smiling at him, but after she opened them again they were a deep brown.</p><p>
  <em>Kaya…!</em>
</p><p>He wanted to call out to her, but no sound would come out; all he could do was stare.</p><p><em>“Um, hello, are you alright?” </em>She asked, her voice now a garbled blend of both the girl’s and Kaya’s. She extended a hand to him, and without hesitation he grasped it as tightly as he could. However, as soon as he touched her skin her face changed to one of sad acceptance. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth to her chin and dripped onto the floor. Zeno watched it hit the ground in stunned horror.</p><p>
  <em>“Zeno…”</em>
</p><p>His head snapped back up at the sound of Kaya’s voice, only he wasn’t holding flesh anymore; he was holding the hand of a skeleton. Bit by bit, Kaya disintegrated and crumbled right before his eyes.</p><p>
  <em>KAYA!</em>
</p><p>He wanted to scream. He wanted to <em>shriek</em> as loudly as he could as he lost her for the thousandth time, but still his voice was gone. It never got any easier, no matter how many times he was met with this scene. A thousand times this played out, and a thousand times he could do <em>nothing</em>. Zeno looked at the dust left in his palm, and wished it were him instead.</p><p>
  <em>“Zeno.”</em>
</p><p>Another painfully familiar voice dragged him sharply back from the brink of despair, just as it had done so many times before in the past.</p><p>
  <em>“Zeno, stay back. I will not let you be harmed.”</em>
</p><p>The skeleton had been replaced with the noble figure of King Hiryuu, who was facing down an advancing army. His red hair stood out against the barren wasteland as it flowed majestically around his face, his sword and armour glinting in the harsh sunlight above them. Zeno was staring at him in both awe and disbelief, when a heavy hand came down on his shoulder; Guen strode past him, grinning, already expanding his hand in preparation to strike. From behind Hiryuu came Abi, robes flapping in the light breeze as he observed the opposition from a distance with his beautiful eyes. A flash of green above told him that Shuten had already taken off to catch up with Guen.</p><p><em>This feels nice. It feels </em>right.</p><p>Zeno blinked, and the location had changed; Hiryuu was no longer beside him, and it was raining heavily. Instead he had Abi, paralysed and unconscious, leaning on him as they stood in the middle of a canyon. A flash of lighting alerted him to a raised sword just over his head, and shoving Abi to the side he took the blow himself. Zeno’s blood soaked the soil and pooled with the rain water.</p><p>
  <em>I’ve been cut down. I’m going to die.</em>
</p><p>Of course, that didn’t happen, for that wasn’t how it worked; Zeno’s wounds always healed. He clawed at himself on the water-logged ground and squeezed his eyes shut as golden scales covered his torso, praying for it to be over.</p><p>It wasn’t.</p><p>Zeno opened his eyes again to Hiryuu’s tomb, Hiryuu himself lying on the stone table while his brothers wept on the ground at his side. Zeno looked at each of them in turn, but couldn’t see their faces; he could only hear their anguished cries of sorrow at the death of their king. His eyes trailed up to where Hiryuu’s red mane streamed down over the stone. It appeared to be trickling like water across the floor towards him. With a jolt, Zeno realised it was.</p><p>Looking up from the floor, Zeno was back on the battlefield, but this time he was alone. Where Hiryuu’s hair had been was now a small river of blood running down a slight incline.</p><p>
  <em>“Kill the monster! Make him stay down!”</em>
</p><p>With that Zeno was face down in the mud as multiple blades pierced through his back all the way to his front. He gritted his teeth. He wanted to just stay there and never get up. He wanted to become one with the earth and just sleep forever. Maybe some pretty flowers would grow in his place, that would be nice.</p><p>
  <em>No. I can’t. I have to get up. </em>
</p><p>Fists clenched, he pushed himself up off the ground and stood at his full height. Half a dozen metal tips protruded from his chest and stomach. The surrounding soldiers gaped at him in terror and repulsion as once again golden scales covered his entire body; they weren’t staring for much longer after that.</p><p>Caked in blood and dirt, Zeno sank to his knees. The final blow came in the form of his brothers leaving this world, leaving <em>him</em>. The three lights that had lit up his life snuffed out one after the other as he sat, helpless, screaming silently into his hands. A pang of pain shot through his head, and then there was nothing.<br/><br/></p><p> </p><p>Zeno swore that he could hear someone calling his name. In fact, he could hear <em>multiple </em>voices shouting at him.</p><p>“Zeno!!”</p><p>Squinting through his bleary eyes he could identify outlines of white, blue, green, and black. The blue one was leaning over him quite close to his face.</p><p>“… Abi?” Zeno croaked, his throat raw for a reason he wasn’t privy to.</p><p>His question was met with a worried mumble of voices. Zeno rubbed at his eyes, and finally could clearly see the concerned and sleepy faces of his current companions.</p><p>“Zeno! Thank goodness, we thought we were never going to wake you up.” Kija was also hovering close to Zeno’s face, but not as close as Shin-ah, who looked terrified and had a tight grip on Zeno’s sleeve.</p><p>“What-” Zeno was cut off by another twinge of pain, stronger this time, on the left side of his face. Wincing, he looked at the men one by one as he sat up. “Is someone gonna tell me why my face hurts?”</p><p>“Hak slapped you.” Shin-ah said, in his usual matter-of-fact tone. Zeno groaned in response.</p><p>Hak shrugged. “Well, you were thrashing around like a crazy person. I didn’t know such a small guy could scream so loudly.”</p><p>
  <em>Ah, that explained why his throat hurt.</em>
</p><p>“I didn’t think I was screaming at all,” Zeno mumbled. Everyone just sighed. “Sorry I woke you guys, let’s all go back to sleep, yes? Zeno is fine now!” He put on his best cheerful voice, but the others weren’t having it this time.</p><p>“I don’t think so,” Kija said, his voice stern. “Not after what we just witnessed. We cannot just pretend that didn’t happen.”</p><p>
  <em>Damn.</em>
</p><p>“Did something bring this on, Zeno? We’ve heard you talking in your sleep in the past, but it hasn’t ever escalated like that before.” Jae-ha was looking at him with the concerned older brother face that he had down to a fine art, much to Zeno’s slight annoyance. He <em>was </em>older, after all.</p><p>Meanwhile, Shin-ah had wrapped Zeno in his fur and plonked Ao in his lap. She promptly curled up and went to sleep. Zeno sighed, reluctantly accepting that he couldn’t bluff his way out of this one.</p><p>“Fine. Uh, yeah, I guess Ryokuryuu is right. There was… a girl at the market earlier. She… reminded me of Kaya, my, uh… wife.”</p><p>The tent members gawked at Zeno in silent shock. Kija looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.</p><p>“She reminded you of your wife and you didn’t tell us?!” Kija half shouted before being shushed by Hak and Jae-ha.</p><p>“Our youngest are sleeping Kija, please.” Jae-ha sighed. Kija mumbled an apology while Hak rolled his eyes.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Zeno. I should have realised that something was wrong at the time.”</p><p>Zeno waved a hand nonchalantly. “Hakuryuu didn’t know what Kaya looked like, so it’s fine. Not to worry.”</p><p>“She was probably very pretty, if that girl was so similar to her.” Kija muttered.</p><p>A fond smile bloomed across Zeno’s face. “Yeah, she was the prettiest girl Zeno knew.”</p><p>Shin-ah tugged at Zeno’s sleeve to get his attention. “Zeno, do we remind you… of the original dragons? You called me Abi, so… I thought that’s maybe… what his name was...” Shin-ah trailed off as if he were afraid he’d overstepped, but Zeno patted his hand reassuringly.</p><p>“Yep, the first Seiryuu was called Abi! Hakuryuu was Guen, and Ryokuryuu was Shuten. As for whether you guys are like them, well, you’re all much cuter for sure!” Zeno beamed at them all. “Guen was much bigger and louder than Hakuryuu now. Abi and Shuten were always fighting, so that’s a big difference between Seiryuu and Ryokuryuu.” Zeno drummed on his chin with fingers. “Also, Ryokuryuu is much prettier than Shuten was.”</p><p>“Naturally,” Jae-ha agreed. Hak screwed his face up at him and Jae-ha responded with a wink.</p><p>A comfortable silence settled over them for a short while, until Zeno’s quiet giggles roused confused looks from the others. “The mister looks very sombre over there, are you alright?”</p><p>Hak huffed out a humourless laugh. “I guessed you had a lot going on, I just never thought it was like <em>that.</em>”</p><p>Zeno shrugged. “It is what it is and it happened. No point on dwelling on it too much.”</p><p>Beside him, Kija squeezed his fists shut for a few seconds and opened them again, clearly building up to say something. Somewhat tearily, he declared, "Zeno, please know you can talk to us about absolutely anything, no matter what it is. Even if it is only for a short time. And I know that I can speak on the princess and Yoon's behalf and say that they feel the same way. We are all... We are all a <em>family</em>, and we love you very much. That will never change."</p><p>Everyone nodded at the mentioning of family, even Hak, as slight as it was.</p><p>"Kija is right, we're a family. You can rely on us, whenever you need us." Jae-ha’s easy smile was back on his face, much to Zeno’s silent relief.</p><p>Zeno’s smile widened into a genuine one as he spoke. “Thanks, Hakuryuu, Zeno will remember that!” The others weren’t completely sure he meant that, but they would take what they could get. Outside the weather had calmed down considerably; the rain had diminished to a light mizzle, and the wind was now coming in small gusts as opposed to a gale. Light was beginning to creep through the bottom of the tent.</p><p>"Well, I think we should try and get some sleep before Yoon comes to wake us, or none of us will be of any use later," Jae-ha said as he stifled a yawn.</p><p>"Good call, Droopy Eyes.” Hak started to shift his sitting position. “Everyone budge up."</p><p>Shin-ah and Kija squished themselves up in on each of Zeno’s sides, and Hak and Jae-ha took the spots behind each of them, respectively.</p><p>“Hak, can we swap? I’m getting a draft.”</p><p>“Can’t hear you, Droopy Eyes, I’m sleeping.”</p><p>“More like you just want Shin-ah’s fur to yourself,” Jae-ha huffed. A muffled laugh could be heard from Hak’s spot.</p><p>This time when Zeno drifted off, no old ghosts came to haunt him in his sleep. This time, he was comfortable, warm, and happy, surrounded by the people he loved dearly. Everything and everyone was a fleeting moment in life for him, but he would always, <em>always</em>, make the most of the time he had. Always.</p><p>Zeno would get up again for these people as many times as were necessary.</p>
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